Risky Business
by ChoNeun
Summary: Naota's grown up a lot since Haruko's gone. He's become a pretty average kid again. Life is predictable once more, but not until that strange maid comes knocking on his door.
1. Chapter 1

Haruko sat down at a desk and opened the laptop. She stood and stretched while giving it a chance to load up. The computer beeped and her yellow eyes glanced over.

PASSWORD REQUIRED.

She looked at the empty rectangle with the blinking cursor and took a moment to mull it over before blinking repeatedly in confusion. She doubled over with a groan and a knock at the door.

"Haruko. What the heck are you doing in there?"

"Oh? Uh-oh."

She frantically ran around the room, rearranging it, and the doorknob clicked open. A young boy with black hair came in with closed eyes and a sigh. He slowly opened them and looked at the room. Over by the bed, Haruko was reading a magazine that was flipped over. She was reading the cover and her left leg was propped up on her right. Naota's eyes trailed over toward the computer.

PASSWORD INVALID.

The red letters sat above the first empty box with a blinking cursor. There was a second one below it with four gray asterisks inside. He turned hastily around to face Haruko. An innocent face… She batted her eyelashes at him with pouted lips. The idiotic dullness in her eyes signaled to him that it would be pointless to ask exactly what she had been doing on his computer.

He typed in the password and the sound of a clicking mouse sounded twice in the silence of the room.

"Here you go. Next time ask before you invade someone's privacy," he flatly scolded.

She just smirked now hanging upside down on his bed; the door closed and she jumped up going over to his computer. Her eyes were half-lidded as she clicked around through the programs.

Seems like Naota is a normal boy… She clicked through a few more, entering his documents folder without even taking note of it. "That is so lame! Ahh!" 

She screamed, holding her head and kicking her feet out. The computer blipped and she silenced herself. She blinked and leaned forward, reading the prompt.

FILES HIDDEN. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHOW THEM?

A smile creased her face—a wide heinous smile.

YES? NO?

She cracked her knuckles and whirled her finger up in the air.

"Bum ba-da-dum! Bingo!"

Her finger pressed down on the mouse button.

NOW SHOWING…71 FILES…

Whoa. Seventy—wuh? 

NOW SHOWING…100 FILES…

Geez. What's Takkun got to hide in here anyway? 

NOW SHOWING…250 FILES…

_Two hundred fifty… That's a whole lot for a boring old kid like Naota._ "Para?"

She leaned back and looked at the bedroom door for a minute to listen out for anyone coming up the stairs. She sat there in silence for a little while and once again, she smiled when she didn't hear anything. The rolling chair settled right back in its place with its alien occupant. Highlighting everything, she pressed the enter button coarsely.

ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO OPEN ALL 250 FILE(S)?

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

She jammed the button each time she yelled yes. Nothing happened.

"Para? Para? Nothing happened."

A light slowly grew from the computer screen; her eyes slowly widened. Suddenly the silence of the room was buried under the repetitive sound of beeps and alarms. Each window took space on the wide screen, opening on each other and in different sizes. Haruko ducked down, not knowing when the noise would stop or even if it would. Finally, there was the silence she hoped for.

"Nani? It stopped. Well, that's a relief." She sat back in the chair. "I hope I haven't broken Takkun's—whoa!"

She looked at the pictures that lay open in front of her. Minimizing all of them, she started from the most recently opened. It was Naota and Mamimi – nothing seemed out of the ordinary and it was like that for the first seven pictures. Her qualms about Naota's normality returned as she was going through the boring, mundane pictures. However, there were some that showed Naota's…well…

More than average side…

Her yellow eyes danced with joy and a smirk played on her lips.

"Atta boy, Takkun."

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 2

Naota walked downstairs, brushing his teeth and he could hear the "party chatter" that was going on downstairs. You know the kind: dishes and glasses clinking together, the faint muttering of voices and that one particular voice/laugh that sticks out because it's just amazed amongst the chatter. He thought everything was just going average as it normally would since Haruko came back.

He thought back to why she came back before he even reached the door.

"Found Atomsk and let's just say that the reunion wasn't pleasant. Now my only reason for living is to be with you, Takkun."

I bet this is another one of her games, he thought bitterly to himself.

A quick run back upstairs to spit and rinse and he returned back to where he was when this "thought" occurred. He opened the door, expecting to be hit by normality. Well, she came all right with the full-force of the Rickenbecker as well. The guitar hit a chord as it made contact with hard human skull. Naota did an impressive flip backwards before colliding with and bursting through the deli wall. Haruko posed.

"Stee-rike!" She said (insert sound of bowling strike).

"Oh, very impressive, Haruko-san," Kamon, Naota's father, commented.

Naota's grandfather added in his two cents as well: "Did ya see that flip? Naota could be an athlete with some of that skill."

"What the heck is your problem? Didn't you do that enough the first time you were here?"

"But that was just a practice run."

"A practice run?! You've got to be kidding me with this and you two, you two should be ashamed of yourselves! Doesn't this constitute as child abuse?!"

"Haruko-san is just playing and see, you're fine. Nothing to worry about."

Naota's eyebrow twitched and he stormed out of the household.

"Hey, where's he going?"

Naota's cat just idly watched from the balcony. Meanwhile, by the river, Naota stood looking down into the shallow water. He had a sweet drink in his right hand while his left hung limply at his side.

I was hoping that Mamimi would be here, but I guess when she said "So long, Naota" she really meant "good-bye". He crouched down. Though knowing her, there's hardly a difference.

He took a sip; a horn blared above the sound of crickets. He looked up to see the pink haired twenty-something on the bridge in her normal attire.

"Come on back, Takkun."

"I don't want to go with you."

They stared at each other and Naota tried to stay angry.

"All right then."

"Hey wait a minute!"

"Nya?"

"Why'd you come all the way out here anyway? You knew that I was going to be home in no time anyway."

"I have pictures."

"Pictures of what?"

"I dunno, Takkun. Maybe you should tell me."

A mischievous smirk and he knew that she had seen them. A blush flared up without haste and Haruko rode off. She knew that she had them and that he knew she knew about them.

This is bad.

He stood up and bolted in the opposite direction. Ding dong. A girl with a red long sleeve shirt opened the door.

"This is really bizarre. Why are you at my house?"

"She's got the pictures."

Ninamori's face was alight with shock. "What? Who? Where? When? W-why? How could you—?"

"It was an accident! I didn't think Haruko would find them! I thought she was playing games or that she was on the Internet!"

"And how did you get that lame idea?"

"Well I could hear a lot of beeping and Haruko was just being Haruko so I figured I had nothing to worry about."

"And you didn't have the brains to check?"

"I already told you I didn't think she'd find them!"

"Eri, hun, could you be a dear and stop yelling out the door at strangers this late in the evening? You do have school tomorrow after all."

"Yes, Mother."

Ninamori's eyes drew from the inside of the lavishly decorated house to the dreary outside where Naota was.

"I'll handle you later."  
"Ninamori, wait a minute!"

The door slammed shut and he stood there for a moment with his hand reached out. He let his head droop downward.

To Be Continued…


	3. Chapter 3

I should have known better than to leave Haruko alone, but at the same time, how was I to know that she would get her hands on those?

He opened the door to his room. Haruko and his cat were on the balcony and Haruko was dangling him upside. Of course, Mamimi's cat, Takkun, and his little love cat were there. Haruko stopped and looked over her shoulder. Brown eyes, along with yellow eyes, traced over to the computer screen. Flying stars screensaver… Naota walked over and jiggled the screen and there they were.

"So…Takkun…" Haruko had a big—an unnaturally big—grin. "Who's the new kid?"

He looked over to her. "It's none of your business."

"Do I know her?"

Naota mumbled under his breath.

"What? Didn't hear ya."

He did it again.

"Aw. Come on, you can tell me."

He walked out the door and it was quiet. She blinked and seconds later, a slip of paper slid under the door. "Para?" She walked over and picked it up. Naota was on the other side of the door with his eyes shut tight. Haruko's voice ran out—it was laughter.

"Are you serious? No lie? You really mean it?" She flung open the door with a wide grin smeared in shock.

Naota nodded reluctantly, blushing. "Y-yeah."

"But no! This can't be! You…jest!" Haruko's dramatic tone was uncalled for.

"Delete them."

"What?"

"Delete them, you heard me."

Haruko walked over to the computer and sat down; Naota stood right behind her.

Stop. In a perfect world, she would have deleted the pictures and I would have made sure they were gone forever and I would have gone living life as a normal, now 14-year-old, but the world is not perfect. In fact, I'm not even apart of the real world. My world is a Fooly Cooly type of dream game and it's a twisted little joke that I'm not in on.

Naota's cat strolled into the room, considering Haruko dropped it to the lower level earlier. Oh, and it wasn't alone. Kanti followed and went over to Naota…with a disc—shiny, small and gold—tucked in the apron. Unfortunately, Kanti had to get the cat; unfortunately, the cat had to squirm in his arms, causing the disc to fall out; worst of all, Haruko had to be watching the whole thing.

"Is that…" Haruko began.

"…The disc?" Naota looked over at Haruko.

She had already left the chair and when he looked back, Kanti, his cat and Haruko were gone.

This just went from bad…to worse.

To Be Continued…


	4. Chapter 4

_Sorry I'm soooooooooooooo late!! I meant to get this up like half a year ago, but here it is now!! Expect more later _ _sooner-later_ . --Chouji

* * *

"Hey."

"Hey! Hey!"

Haruko growled in irritation. She cleaned her ear with her pinky and pulled it out with a slight pop.

"E-KO-JIN!"

The window slammed open and then a girl with light blue hair stuck her head out. Her face would have killed someone with the glare she put on, if it weren't for the fact she had steak sauce on her lips.

"WHAT?"

"You have a little something _here_!" Haruko threw her guitar at the girl's, Ekojin apparently, face.

There was a cry of shock, but Ekojin retaliated by throwing the guitar back at her. Kanti and Naota's cat looked at Haruko on the ground; their gaze changed when the blue haired female came out of the house. Only…

She carried a cane.

Immediately, Haruko sat up.

"What'd you go do? Go and cripple yourself? Yeah, that's what you did. I bet it is. You can't hide it, Kojin. You have to be more careful about what you're doing."

"I didn't cripple myself."

"Then what's with the cane?"

Ekojin puffed out her lips and tugged on her collar, turning her head to the side.

"It makes me look cool."

"To whom I wonder," Haruko muttered, leaning over to Kanti. "BAH!"

Ekojin swung her cane like a bat, ramming it into Haruko's face, yelling, "What did you come over for anyway?! You know that I don't like visitors!"

"Ahh! That hurts!"

"Ans-wer-me stu-pid!"

"Came over to show you these!"

Haruko's hand flew up, holding a disc in her hand. Ekojin blinked and took it out; Haruko groaned, sliding off the edge of the cane like beaten, gelatinous goo. After a moment, she stood up and composed herself.

"You think there's something interesting in here?"

"Course! You remember, Takkun, right?"

"Takkun? Oh yeah That kid you almost destroyed Mabase with."

Haruko giggled. "I try. WAH!"

"Come on, Haru-san. Let's get this doohickey in the computer."

There was the sound of panting and of footsteps; a bag rose and fell against running legs. A girl turned to the running male; she was sipping something from a cup. The straw dangled in her mouth as she drank with heavy disinterest from its confines.

"You're late."

"Oh gee. No 'wow, Naota. You look mighty tired. Did you run all the way here?' Of course, I don't expect you to show any concern for anyone but your—wha?"

Ninamori held out a soda to his face, still drinking from her cup. "Here. I got you this. I _thought_ that you'd be thirsty by the time you got here. I didn't think you'd run—it's just a bit bizarre."

Naota blinked and looked up to Ninamori; he took the soda from her and popped the top. The girl turned on her heels and began walking away.

"Come on, let's go discuss a plan that will get us out of this mess."

Naota followed her reluctantly but knew that he really had no choice. They walked to the riverbed near the old school that was burned down sometime two years ago. They sat down, put their feet in the water and relaxed. Naota put his half-empty can beside him as he lay down. Ninamori began discussing the situation—since he was well aware of it, he ignored her for the time being. He looked up at the sky, but in his top peripheral, he noticed the high grass not too far from him. It was then that he flashbacked to two years ago again with him, Kanti, his dad and Haruko shooting each other. A curiously raised brow was raised and his lips twisted in confusion. Ninamori stopped talking and looked at Naota with sharp moments.

"Hey, are you listening, Naota?"

"I'm thinking."

"You look lost."

He closed his eyes. "Well, thinking doesn't exactly mean you know where you're gonna end up." He snapped his eyes open. "You go around hazily trying to figure things out—you get so caught up, you forget where you are."

Ninamori blinked. "What's your point?"

"Follow me! I think I know what can save us!"

He grabbed his drink and bolted back the way they came. Ninamori yelled after him and followed, not really wanting to run. Naota grinned devilishly as though he just figured out the meaning of life. He looked, not only expression wise, like Haruko.

Speaking of Haruhara Haruko…

"Are you done yet?"

"No."

"Now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"Yep!" Ekojin's eyes ran over the screen again. "Scratch that."

"Ahhh, what's taking you so long, Koji?!"

The blue haired female snapped her head in Haruko's direction. Haruko became quiet.

"Do I have to bring the bat out again?"

Haruko wriggled her body behind Ekojin's chair. "Noo…"

"Okay then."

With that, Ekojin turned back around and began going through the pictures again. She hummed innocently as if everything was dandy. Kanti beeped and Haruko looked at him. Ekojin's arm whipped out toward the door.

"You go out that way, make a left, turn around twice and jump a little. Click your heels three times and pray—a lot—after that, you answer the troll's three riddles and you open the door to your right. There's the bathroom."

Ekojin's hand went in time with her words: left then around in a circle twice, moved up and down, stuck up her index and middle fingers, held up three fingers and then pointed right followed back going palm up toward the ceiling. Kanti nodded and left; the hand went back to the keyboard.

"I thought it was make a right, turn around twice and jump," Haruko murmured.

"Oops. Oh well!" Ekojin punched the enter button with her right hand. "Alright! According to me, we have a little mystery on our hands. We have to follow Takkun to school to figure out who this little miss, miss is." She gave an evil smile to the computer screen. "Opposed to that?" She turned around.

Haruko was wearing a school uniform that was just a bit too short for her body. She kept looking in the full-length mirror next to the dressing, turning around again and again. She looked to Ekojin and saluted. "No way!" She said. The two of them smirked evilly and the blue haired stood up, switched off the computer and high-fived the other female.

"Kanti! We're leaving!" Haruko yelled. "You coming, Ekojin?"

She gave a thumbs-up. "Oh yeah."

Far off from them, Naota and Ninamori ran toward the Nabada household. Both of them ran because they thought that they would put an end to this growing madness. However, two women were on their way to the Nabada home as well, but they weren't trying to stop things—they were trying to agitate and blow it way out of proportion. The girl on the killer Vespa looked to the other on skates, who was going at, what others knew was, breakneck, drop-dead speed. The girl on skates was level with the moped and seemed to be going at, what she knew was, a leisurely pace.

The four people aimed for the same location, but aimed for different ends.

_To be continued…_


	5. Chapter 5

Naota panted as he looked over his shoulder to Ninamori.

"Come on! Pick up the pace!"

Ninamori huffed, glaring at Naota. "I'm going as fast as I can! Alright, according to you, that maid and her friend are up to something if they find out who this girl is, right?"

"That's right!"

"Great! Well, what do you think they'd do if they found out?"

Naota stopped abruptly and turned to face Ninamori with a grave look on his face. She stopped, her face quirking up in surprise and fear.

"Oh, well…" she turned her head again stubbornly, "sorry I asked."

He nodded. "Stop asking so many questions and just follow me!"

She perked up again and began her immediate run after him. "NAOTA!"

Just a little ways away…

Skates rubbed leisurely against the concrete; a moped sped illegally through the streets. Both the rider and the skater were neck and neck with each other. People on the street moved aside if they could. Others just dove out of the way—just in time of course.

"Hey, Ekojin."

"Oon?"

"What's with the people here?"

"_Watch were you're going, you maniacs!!"_ yelled a bystander.

"What do you mean?"

"_Kouta! Get out of the way before you get killed!"_

"_Mommy!"_

A car honk beeped loudly and faded as it swerved out of the way. The two girls just looked at each other. Haruko took her hands off the handlebars and crossed her arms, her legs Indian style on the seat.

"I guess I must be imagining it," Haruko said just before she dipped off to the left.

Ekojin kept her bat rested on her shoulder, watching Haruko regain herself and come back to her side. Haruko huffed once and laughed, looking ahead of her.

"Ekojin, watch out for that strange human child!"

"Huh?"

Ekojin looked ahead to see a baby sitting on the sidewalk next to its carriage, its mother looking at vegetables at an outdoor booth. Ekojin lowered her head, looking through her brow at the obstacle. She jumped in the air, legs drawn up to her chest. Her body turned, looking at the baby as she came 180 degrees on the other side of the child. The baby followed her with its head, wide and curious eyes astonished. Ekojin landed safely on one knee, her body doubled over. Haruko continued on ahead, and her friend followed flawlessly. The baby's mother and the vender were frozen in shock; a head of lettuce fell out of the mother's hand and plopped back on top of the others, rolled down and hit the floor. After a few seconds of silence, the baby cooed, laughed and clapped, finding whatever just happened to it very, very interesting.

"You could have died, Koji."

"That baby tried to kill me," Ekojin replied flatly.

Haruko faced ahead; Ekojin looked over her shoulder and smiled to herself before picking up their normal speed.

Naota and Ninamori rushed up the stairs to Naota's room; Kamon and Naota's grandfather raised their heads at the quick intrusion. Kamon smiled devilishly to himself as the grandfather mumbled something about kids these days.

Ninamori and Naota entered the bedroom and slammed the door closed. They leaned against the door and the wall; Naota slid to the floor. Both panted heavily, their drinks oddly enough still in hand. Ninamori's breath calmed down enough to where it couldn't be audibly heard. She looked over to the bunk bed and staggered over, leaning down to place her drink on the floor beside it. As she leaned down, she fell forward and rolled onto her side as she lay on the bed. Naota had his head leaned against the door but faced in her direction.

"What say you to taking a break?" Ninamori huffed.

"Yeah, let's do that."

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Haruko, slow down!"

Haruko looked over her shoulder to Ekojin, who was now clinging onto the back of the moped, knees slightly bent.

"What?"

"You're wearing out the wheels of my skates."

"You're the one who didn't want to sit up here with me!"

"Not a chance! I don't want to have to jump off like I did last time."

"Not my fault there was a cliff there, Ekojin!"

"YOU TURNED TOWARD THAT CLIFF!"

"Look, we both went off—isn't that what _matters?_"

"Don't make me use this bat on you, Haruko!!"

The blue haired girl let go of the back of the moped and zoomed backward at the sudden lack of speed. She spun around before following back after the pink-haired female.

"Okay, Ninamori, we have just a few moments to do this."

"How can you be so sure?" Ninamori was now beside Naota, leaning against the desk and kneeling on the floor.

"This is Haruko we're dealing with—we don't want to waste any time or take any chances."

Ninamori made a face, knowing that he made sense. "Alright, let's do this. How can we manipulate the photos?"

"There are too many photos to worry about. We have to do something else."

"What are you thinking?"

Naota smiled to himself and his fingers, once hovering over the keyboard, began to type furiously.

Haruko and Ekojin neared the Nabada household, evil on their mind.

Now was the time to act!

_To be continued…_

* * *

Yeah! I know, it's been a while since I updated. Sorry, I forgot about all the stories I've written and I'm going through this anti-talent phase. Sorry everyone, but I'm back on track now. I hope to keep updating; hopefully, you all won't be disappointed!

-TC


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: FINAL EXAM PREPS ARE THE DEVIL! Can you believe that is blocked from my school? Well, in any case, here you go. Would have been here earlier, but no time like the breaks.

* * *

The door swung open downstairs.

Two teenagers talked to each other upstairs.

Two women clamored through the tight doorway.

Two teenagers looked over files and fit them into spaces on the window before them.

Four feet stomped up the hallway.

An oscillating disc moved back and forth on the window.

A process bar came up.

"Come on… Come on… Saaave…" Two teens said in unison, praying to the computer.

A door flung open.

Four eyes looked toward the two women standing in the open doorway.

Brows furrowed impatiently. Sweat ran down a forehead. Blue eyes shook with despair and impatience. A female stood up quickly; hands balled into her fists at her sides. Black eyes stared at the two before her. She looked over her shoulder to Naota.

Naota. Ninamori. Naota. Ninamori. Naota. Ninamori. Kitty.

Ninamori looked back to Haruko and Ekojin who stared at her, waiting for her---daring her to do something. She smirked and then walked forward, pushing both women out of the room. Naota flicked his head up.

"Ninamori!"

"Just keep working!" She slammed the door shut.

"Nina—alright!" He looked back to the screen with deep determination. His fingers tapped the side of the keyboard impatiently before he switched windows and began to wipe the CD's memory.

Outside…

There was a Mexican standoff. Ekojin was against the wall in front of the door. Haruko was to her right, crouching with her arms resting on her knees. She looked up to Ninamori, who just stared at them with crossed arms.

"You're not getting into this room."

Haruko flashed a lot of teeth. "Really?"

Ninamori raised a brow; Ekojin lowered her left hand and reached behind her. The black haired girl raised her arms above her head, crossed still, to bear the grunt of a blow she thought she'd take. Her eyes were closed tightly, shaking. Nothing happened. She opened her eyes and lowered her arms. She saw a ink-blot, and, in her peripheral, she could see Haruko in a psychiatrist's outfit. Swirly lens glassed met her gaze. Haruko adjusted the glasses.

"Now, tell me, child…" She thwacked the paper with the ink-blot with a pointer. "What do you see?"

_Oh God…_ Ninamori looked over her shoulder. _Hurry up, Naota…_

Naota was having his own complications inside. The computer decided to slow and freeze at some points. He could only blame himself for its delay as he was deleting and saving at the same time. Then…the computer monitor just went black. He froze and raised his fists, slamming them against the screen. His head lowered between his arms in defeat.

"Dammit! Stupid computer."

An interesting and light-hearted charm sounded, and the computer was alight once more. A green circle with a white checkmark in the center was in a box.

It said "Success!"

A smile came over Naota's face; a laugh was forming, but then his door flung open once more. Ninamori lay on the floor and was groaning. The two older women stepped over her and entered the room. Once again, Ekojin pointed her bat at Naota's head. He seemed unfazed. Rather, he was very smug.

"Give us the disc, Naota," Haruko said. She and Ekojin were now in yakuza wear.

"The information's right here, Haruko." He hit the monitor with the back of his index finger. "Look at it all you want."

Haruko paused; the smoke lifted quietly from the cigarette in her mouth. Upon closer inspection, her eyes burned with confusion behind her solid black shades. She and Ekojin shared a look of distrust.

Suddenly, Naota went hurdling out the window; Ekojin was still in the position of the bat already swung. Her body was slightly twisted, and her head faced toward where she just struck her homerun.

"Just in case," she said flatly, matter-of-factly. A childlike tone touched her voice.

"Don't forget _her_!!" Haruko threw Ninamori out the window after Naota.

As the screams of the children filled the air, the devious duo jammed into the seat before the computer. Cackling victoriously to themselves, they clicked on the only file left on the computer.

It was a slideshow.

Haruko clicked, and they began to watch.

On a street before an open vegetable stand somewhere not too far off, the children groaned in pain and crawled out of the dumpster they managed to fly into. Ninamori spat over and over, getting the taste of rotten bananas out of her mouth. Naota pulled one off his head. He left it drop carelessly to the ground as they approached and soon walked over the quiet railroad track. Ninamori was dusting herself off.

"Did you get it all done?"

Naota nodded.

"It's all done."

"Good."

Due to convenient location, they ended up in front of Ninamori's estate. They stood by the solid white brick fencing. Ninamori rubbed at her arm impatiently. Naota just looked away, a pout of some sort on his face.

"Hey."

"Nn?"

Ninamori was looking back at him with a dulled, yet serious look on her face.

"If word _does_ get around school somehow, I'm holding you personally responsible."

Naota blinked, thinking that was it.

And it was. Ninamori turned away and began her somehow dignified walk toward her house. Naota shrugged and began walking back home.

"I did have fun though---no matter how bizarre it all was."

Naota chuckled in spite of himself. He was in no hurry to get back home. He looked skyward and thought of all the pictures he had just deleted.

"The only ones…are with her."

He paused on the sidewalk, hands in his pocket. A content look came across his face. As he peered into the stars, one swept across the sky and winked just before it vanished.

To be continued…


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Final Chapter~! I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.

* * *

Naota opened the door to his house and walked inside quietly. His dad and grandpa were still up in arms about earlier when the two women hustled into the house. They quieted when Naota entered.

"Heeey, Naota, why so down?" Kamon commented from the side room next to the kitchen.

"Hm?" He looked to his father. "Down? No, I'm fine."

"Want some bread?" Kamon waved a hardened croissant at him. "It's only a day old."

Naota stared and, from his back view, one could see only Kamon's arm and a hardened croissant wave in the air. Naota's gaze focused on it before he took it, put it in his mouth, put his hands in his pockets and walked upstairs.

"I tell ya that boy's gonna have the stomach of a steel drum!" Naota's grandfather reported to no one in particular.

"What are you trying to say?"

"That bread's gonna empty him out."

"It's only eight days old, dad. Give him a break." Kamon waved off his father and his lie as if they were nothing.

Naota walked upstairs quietly and then turned to his left, opening his door. He closed the door quietly behind him.

"WHAT IS THIS!?!?"

Haruko was weeping in front of the computer screen—her face was twisted in horror and stuck in a Tiki-statue look. Ekojin grabbed Naota by the neck of his shirt with her right hand and pointed behind herself with her left.

"I expected drama! What is THIS?!" she demanded.

"A family vacation slideshow."

"I heard there was kissing! I heard there was beach time fun! THESE ARE LIEEEEEES!"

Naota just shrugged nonchalantly in her grip. "I guess so."

Uselessly, Ekojin dropped her pointing arm and let Naota go.

"I'm going home. Haruko, you're on my shit list."

"Okaaaay, see you Tuesday for the picnic~"

Haruko waved lazily to her compatriot who closed the door behind herself. The sound of skates against the concrete came seconds later from the outside. Haruko had a disappointed and distrusting look on her face as Naota shut everything down and turned off the computer.

"What was that?" she asked finally when the monitor went black and everything was silent.

"What was what?"

"That, Naota. I know what I saw."

Naota looked over his shoulder and stood up straight.

"Think of it as one crazy dream, Haruko. Nothing happened."

With that, he laid down on his bottom bunk and closed his eyes. Seconds later, the lights went out and the top bunk squeaked with movement. Things were suddenly quiet.

_It was hard to say what I dreamt that night at all really. Some things come to mind, but… I know they had something to do with seeing Mamimi again. No one but Ninamori and I knew that was her after all. We went to go see her when she fly back in to Japan. She, Ninamori and I went out for fun. It was weird that Ninamori even participated—especially when we went to the beach. Then we ran into Ninamori's cousin…_

_She was a nice girl, hard to believe she came from the same place as Ninamori… I hung with her a lot when with the others. Hard to say, but I was starting to like her, I think._

_I didn't know, but Mamimi caught me stealing a kiss, but it was on a dare. Ninamori's face was priceless._

_That was it._

_No summer romances. Ninamori's cousin and Mamimi left together on a plane to Europe, and we haven't heard much since summer from those two._

_Just catching up._

_Now… I don't know._

_Maybe playing catch up with some old memories isn't that bad._

Naota opened his eyes slowly and found that the room was somewhat shrouded in lazy darkness. He sat up and looked out the window. The sun hid behind some clouds. He looked at the clock, and it was still early morning. Scratching his stomach, Naota walked out of his room and down the stairs into the kitchen. He paused and motioned to pick up the wall phone.

Someone knocked. He stopped, and he went to open the door.

"Ninamori?"

She had her hands on her hips. "Well?"

"Well…?"

"Is the emergency over?"

Stunned for a moment by the question, he came back to Earth and nodded. Ninamori sighed.

"Good." She looked him over. "You look ridiculous."

His eyes went up to look for stray hair, but he couldn't see his extreme bed head. Ninamori shook her head.

"You're too bizarre. In any case, I'm leaving."

"Busy today?"

She looked over her shoulder. "My cousin's coming over."

Naota perked up. Ninamori shook her head.

"Not her."

He gave a relaxed smile, a kind of "oh" smile. She nodded, raised her hand and went back to the car. He raised his hand and closed the door again. He heard movement and saw Haruko sitting on the steps. They stared at each other in silence before Naota smiled.

Haruko blinked then watched him go into the kitchen before she followed. He walked to the wall phone and picked it up, dialing a number. After answering some minor questions, he was put thru.

"Hello, Ekojin?"

_Some things…you can't force. Like trying to make intelligent adults or trying to enforce a restraining order on some crazy maid. But…when you can, if you can, relive the memories you can… There's no point in looking too far back._

The next weekend Haruko, Ekojin, Ninamori, Kanti and Kamon hung out by the river. Haruko, Ekojin, Kanti and Kamon played a gun war game, shooting each other in the high weeds. Ninamori and Naota just sipped their sodas.

_But sometimes…_

A hand fell on Naota's shoulder. He looked up, a familiar smile.

_It's okay to look back._

Mamimi sat next to them and told them all about her trip.

**End.**

* * *

Kinda of cheesy, I know, but I couldn't end this any other way. I hope you do like it in any case. Wrote this within the same hour of writing the last chapter. FLCL is one of my favorite animes because it's one that can end like this and still be okay. I was going to end this several ways, but this is one that I'm satisfied with. Who knows? You might even like it too once you really, really take it in.

- TC


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